Ohio State Football: Who has Michigan winning the Big Ten now?

Prior to season many thought this may be the year Michigan defeats Ohio State and possibly wins the Big Ten. Anybody betting on that now?

With Urban Meyer stepping down as head coach, people thought this may be the year Michigan would defeat Ohio State, win the Big Ten and possibly make the College Football Playoff. Only die-hard Wolverine fans are confident that will happen after the first two games.

Michigan defeated Middle Tennessee State 40-21 the first game of the season and won 24-21 Saturday against Army in OT. Not an impressive start.

Would the Wolverines even be favored against these four teams if they played Week 3 on a neutral field? First a look at their rival.

The Ohio State Buckeyes scored 28 quick points against the Florida Atlantic Owls before going vanilla on offense so Luke Fickell wouldn’t know what to expect in Week 2. Since many had Ryan Day’s team on upset alert when the Cincinnati Bearcats came to town the 42-0 victory in Week 2 was extremely impressive.

I’m not ranking the next three teams in any order, but I have to start with the Maryland Terrapins who have performed so well they are one of the best stories in college football.

A 79-0 win over the Howard Bison may not seem overly impressive but defeating the Syracuse Orange 63-20 certainly was. Some thought Syracuse could give No. 1 ranked Clemson a good game.

The Michigan State Spartans defeated the Tulsa Golden Hurricane 28-7 the first game and won 51-7 over the Western Michigan Broncos Saturday. Mark Dantonio’s teams always seem to improve as the season wears on so I doubt anybody is looking forward to playing the Spartans now.

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The only question concerning the Penn State Nittany Lions entering the season was how well the offense would perform with quarterback Trace McSorely gone. After a 79-7 win over the Idaho Vandals and a 43-13 victory over the Buffalo Bulls Saturday I would say that question has been answered.

I find it interesting the Big Ten Power Rankings on BTN.com had Michigan at No. 4 in the conference after Week 2. I wouldn’t have the Wolverines ranked higher than No. 5 in the East Division.

I do want to throw an olive branch out to Michigan fans to give them a little comfort though. I think their favorite team would be favored on a neutral site over Indiana and Rutgers.

I always try to be nice to the guys and gals who root for that team up north, a niece I dearly love is one of them. Fortunately her brother and two sisters are MSU fans. I guess that’s the best you can expect with all living north of the border.